


First Snowfall

by idiotslantern



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 12:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5497778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idiotslantern/pseuds/idiotslantern
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Claire has never believed in things like magic, or angels, or Santa Claus. She remembers a time when she believed in God. She supposes maybe she still does. But she no longer believes He brings anything but pain. The universe seems to want her to believe in something though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Snowfall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hhwgv](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hhwgv/gifts).



Claire has never believed in things like magic, or angels, or Santa Claus. She remembers a time when she believed in God. She supposes maybe she still does. But she no longer believes He brings anything but pain. The universe seems to want her to believe in something though.

She’s a lonely girl. After her father’s disappearance, she fell apart, and lost friends in the process. They couldn’t handle her grief. She doesn’t blame them, it’s not their fault, and it’s not their problem. But she finds herself wishing she had someone. One night, she finally gets her wish.

All the snow has melted and the trees and flowers are slowly beginning to bloom. It’s spring again. She’s taking out the trash early one morning before school, dew still leaving everything shining in the pale morning light, and that’s when she sees her. A girl with skin the color of lily petals and hair as dark as a raven’s feathers is sitting in her backyard, surrounded on all sides by lush grass and flowers that weren’t there last night.

Claire stands there, silently, watching as this woman weaves flowers together. Her cat, Sir Barks-A-Lot (he had the name when they adopted him), who hates strangers, and is barely a fan of Claire herself, is curled up at this girl’s side, more calm and content than Claire has ever seen him. All in all, it’s a very confusing moment for Claire, and she’s pretty sure she’s actually still asleep.

When a fawn wobbles its way out of the woods behind her house and comes up to nuzzle the strange girl, Claire lets out an exasperated “ _Oh, come on,_ ” much louder than she intended. It startles the fawn, who bounds off into the woods again, and gains the attention of the stranger. Claire is offered a serene smile as the girl gets to her feet. That’s when Claire notices this girl is naked. Claire’s all for being confident in one’s own body, but even if it is technically spring, they’re in Illinois, and it’s still cold. Or at the very least, too cold to be naked.

As the girl walks over, Claire finds she can’t bring herself to move. You would think, with some weird exhibitionist making themselves at home in her backyard, she would be a little more motivated to get away. Maybe she’s in shock.

“You must be Claire.” ...She must be losing it is what she must be. Surely she didn’t hear what she thought she just heard.

“How do you...”

“Know your name?” Claire nods. “I heard your wish. I’m here for you.”

Claire stares wordlessly at the girl for a few moments. “...Right.” She decides to head back inside and finish getting ready for school, hoping that when she gets home at the end of the day that this whole ordeal will turn out to have just been some weird hallucination.

\--

“Dammit,” Claire mutters when she gets home. It wasn’t a hallucination.

“Hello, Claire,” the girl greets her when she steps inside. She’s still naked, save for a crown of flowers on her head - likely what that flower chain from this morning was for. “Did you have a good day?”

"It was fine...” She mumbles with a slight grimace. “What are you doing here?”

“I told you this morning. I’m here--”

“Here for me,” Claire cuts her off. “Yeah, I got that part. But what are you? And _why_ are you here for me?”

“My kind have been called many things, but our true name cannot be pronounced by human tongues. As for why I’m here, I told you before. I heard your wish.”

“What wish? I don’t remember asking for random nude strangers to show up in my yard.”

“That’s not what you wished for. You wished to not be alone.”

\--

Claire continues asking the girl questions, once she gets her to put on some clothes. She asks her name, which turns out to be Hael - or at least that’s what she tells Claire to call her. She asks how she’s supposed to keep this from her mother if this girl doesn’t leave, and apparently Hael can only be seen when she wants to be seen, and by who she wants to see her. Of course Claire could still run in to some awkward moments if her mom overhears her talking to someone she can’t see.

Once Claire is done with her inquisition, Hael makes sure that Claire knows that their time together will end at the stroke of midnight after the first snowfall of the coming winter. Claire thinks to herself that she can’t wait. She wants this weird girl out of her house so she can go back to her normal life.

\--

Eventually, Hael starts showing up at school. Claire’s not exactly sure how she finagled her way into actually getting on the roster, but one day, there she is, sitting in Claire’s calculus class like she belongs there. Everyone seems to flock to her too, like she’s the most interesting thing they’ve seen, just because she’s new.

It pisses Claire off a little.

It pisses Claire off more when Hael sits with her at lunch, and a whole posse of people Claire either doesn’t know, or doesn’t like, proceed to follow.

A few weeks down the road, Claire realizes she’s getting used to these people that flocked to Hael, and a number of them have actually started talking to her when Hael isn’t around, and about things that have nothing to do with Hael. She even gets asked to hang out by a couple of them. It takes a few offers before she says yes, but when she does, she actually finds herself enjoying her time.

Somewhere along the line, she finds herself enjoying Hael’s company as well. It’s still weird to see Sir Barks-A-Lot take a liking to someone, and she doesn’t seem to ever actually _sleep_ , but they have more to talk about than she would have expected.

Hael’s kind apparently aren’t immune to family drama, and as it turns out, she can almost relate to what Claire went through with her father. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s the first time Claire’s spoken to someone she feels can understand what she’s gone through. What she’s _still_ going through.

Even when Hael can’t relate to a subject, she’s always a good listener. She knows when to offer advice, when to just let Claire vent, and when to be a shoulder to cry on. Claire actually comes to _trust_ her, which is something she hasn’t done in a long time.

\--

By the time summer rolls around, they have a solid group of friends that they hang out with on a regular basis. What started out as Claire just being stuck with these people because they wanted to hang out with Hael, and Hael wouldn’t leave her alone, becomes something real. Claire starts leaving the house more often, and her mother comments that she seems a little bit happier. Even Sir Barks-A-Lot seems to have warmed up to Claire.

If she had to be completely honest, Claire would say that it’s the best summer she’s had since before her dad disappeared.

\--

The weeks go by in a flash, and before Claire knows it, it’s fall again. School’s starting, the weather’s getting cooler, the leaves are changing, and Claire feels like a different person.

She hasn’t smiled so much in years, and she hadn’t realized how lonely she was until she wasn’t lonely anymore. Sure, she still has moments where she’s down, where she wants to shut out the world and not talk to anyone, but these people are understanding of that. They’ve had their own share of ordeals to get through, their share of hard times, and they understand. They’re there for Claire when she wants to talk, or just wants company, and they trust that she’d do the same for them. And she would.

The further they get into the school year though, the less often Hael joins them during group hangouts. Claire figures maybe she’s growing tired of humans, or maybe she is off enjoying all the parts of human culture that she hasn’t gotten to yet. Then Claire remembers what Hael was so adamant about telling her back in the spring. Their time together has an expiration date. Claire hopes, to herself mostly, that it was just some dramatic mystical crap she was spewing, and that things won’t just end come winter.

But since that may not be the case, she makes a conscious effort to spend more time with Hael. It cuts into her time with the rest of their friends a little, but they don’t seem to mind. Especially when, in early November, Hael tells them all that she’ll be moving in a few weeks, somewhere far away. Claire wishes she could tell them all the truth, but as much as they trust her, she doubts they would believe something like that.

\--

The temperatures steadily start dropping, and Claire’s spirits follow suit. She never expected to grow so attached to Hael. Hell, a few months ago, she couldn’t _wait_ for her to be gone. But now...It’s hard to imagine her life without Hael. She’s become such an important part of Claire’s life, and Claire isn’t sure she’s ready to let go.

Eventually it comes. A winter weather advisory for their county. The conditions are just right for snow. Claire dreads going to sleep that evening, and while all the kids in town are hoping for a snow day, she’s hoping for freezing rain or ice - anything but snow.

The next morning, she wakes up to a six inch thick blanket of white covering the ground, and her mother telling her school is cancelled. Once her mother goes to get ready for work, Claire can’t help but let herself cry.

She ends up crying herself back to sleep, and is startled awake an hour and a half later by a hand on her shoulder, and opens her eyes to see Hael smiling softly down at her. Hael gently wipes the tears from Claire’s face.

“We have fourteen more hours. Let’s make the most of them.”

They eat a quick breakfast before bundling up in warm winter clothes, then they head outside. Claire gets texts from her friends, asking if she’s doing anything, and tells them all that she’s spending the day with Hael before she has to leave.

The two of them do as many cliche winter things as they can think of. They make snow angels, have a snowball fight, go sledding, make a snowman. And when their cheeks are red with the cold and they’re shivering despite all the layers, they head in for a couple of mugs with hot cocoa by the fire.

While Claire’s mom works late, the two of them curl up together as Hael tells Claire stories of where she’s from, and even though Claire knows what Hael is, and that where she’s spent her life is a far more magical place, she still can hardly believe some of the tales Hael spins.

The clock ticks down, closer and closer to midnight, and Claire finds herself asking Hael, desperately, if this really has to be the end. If there’s not some way that she can stay, even just a little bit longer.

Hael’s answering smile is sad, and unlike any expression Claire’s ever seen on her face. “I’m sorry, but yes. This is the last of our time together. This is how it was always going to be.”

“But I can’t go back to being alone.”

“You won’t be.” Hael brushes a lock of hair behind Claire’s ear. “You have people who care about you. Friendships that will last you a long time. As the time passes, you’ll miss me less and less.”

“It’s not fair...” Claire says, her voice soft.

“I know.” Hael kisses Claire’s forehead. “Thank you, Claire. For everything.”

“Hael, I...” Claire tries to find the words to say, but she can’t. Instead, she wraps her arms around Hael in a tight hug, and can’t stop the tears from falling as Hael hugs her back.

They stay like that, wrapped in each others arms for what feels like too long, yet not long enough, before Hael reluctantly pulls away, glancing briefly at the clock. “It’s time...”

Claire watches Hael, once again grasping futilely for something to tell her to properly convey how she feels.

Hael’s the one that speaks instead. She utters a simple “I’ll miss you.” And then she’s gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the SPN Femslash Secret Santa 2015 on tumblr as a gift for hhgwv. Initially this was going to be a summary for an AU, so it isn't exactly fleshed out, but it got a little long and I figured there was no harm in posting it here and actually having something I've written on here.


End file.
